There are dogs in my house.
Winter and jackets are a distant memory. I'm not even sure how many days in a row we've soared above 100 degrees now, and there's no end in sight. We are breaking records left and right here in Central Texas.
Morning walks happen before the sun is fully awake…or not at all.
We even have sand from the Sahara desert swirling in our atmosphere!
So I'm grateful for air conditioning, in my car and my house…and also for stained concrete floors downstairs so the puppies can turn into house dogs during the day with no worries about earlier swims in the pond.
(We knew this old bed pad would come in handy some day!)
As some of you may know, Max, our German Shepherd/Great Dane, was a stray who adopted us about ten years ago, when he was just a puppy…although, since he was already about the same size as our yellow lab mix, Charly, we didn't realize he was just a baby.
He grew to be twice Charly's size, but remained a puppy at heart until Charly's death a few years ago.
We didn't plan to get another puppy, but Max was despondent, so when TG spotted a photo of Belle on Facebook, and we heard she was a wandering stray puppy searching for a home just like Max had been…well, how could we resist?
(See the boxes behind her? Our empty nest is temporarily full again.)
So now we have Belle and Max, filling in for those who have gone before…Charly, Chewy, Maggie, and Jake…keeping the memory of those other sweet puppies alive while settling into their own spots in our hearts and easing the pain of losing the others.
Stephanie Weaver of Recipe Renovator, has written a book about pet love and loss, called Golden Angels, about Buddy Girl, their first dog, who they lost at age 11 to an aggressive cancer, and Daisy May, their new puppy, a year-and-a-half old.
Stephanie has undertaken a Kickstarter campaign to get her book into print and to help spread the word through a book tour.
If you are a pet lover, please check out her site. She is offering some nice thank you gifts for people who donate to her campaign.
“It came to me that every time I lose a dog
they take a piece of my heart with them.
And every new dog that comes
into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart.
If I live long enough,
all the components of my heart will be a dog, and I will become as generous and
loving as they.”
~Anonymous
http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=206615
Long Hollow 
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